Someone Like You
by Truthtakestime
Summary: AU, Vaughn is Francie's dentist. What happens when him and Sydney meet? SV fluff...
1. Default Chapter

**Chapter 1**

"Ouch!" Sydney rolled her eyes at her best friend and flipped over the page of her magazine.

"Francie! You've put up with this for over a week, I'm sure an extra five minutes won't kill you!"

"You try living with this pain and well see how you feel." Francie folded her arms over her chest and looked away from her friend, her gaze focused on the tropical fish swimming around the tank.

"Just because you're in pain, there's no need to take it out on me." The receptionist looked up from the file that she had been reading and glanced at the two women. She looked at them both, her eyes silently telling them to keep the noise down, so that they didn't disturb the other patients. Sydney looked at her and gave her a small, polite smile.

"Besides," she turned back to look at Francie, her voice hushed as she spoke. "If you had listened to me last week when I told you to go and see a dentist, the problem would be all sorted by now, and we would be looking through the racks at Macy's instead of sitting in the dentist's office!" She placed the magazine on the table infront of her and looked back at her watch.

"I would have gone last week but I was busy!" Francie commented, her eyes still glued to the fish tank. "Why is it that all dentist surgeries have fish tanks?"

Sydney laughed and slowly shook her head. "Don't be changing the subject!" She nudged her with her elbow and smiled at her.

The door to the dentist's office opened, and out walked a middle-aged man with his five-year-old daughter holding his hand. The little girl had a lollipop in her hand and a huge smile on her face. Sydney was shocked to see that the child hadn't come out of the room in tears like most children do.

The receptionist picked up the next file and read out the name. "Francie Calfo?" Francie nodded as she stood up, handing her purse to Sydney. "Dr. Vaughn will see you know." She gestured for Francie to follow her as she walked into the Dr.'s office and handed him the patient file.

Francie walked into the room and smiled at the receptionist as she went back to her desk.

"Miss Calfo, I'm Michael Vaughn." He extended his hand and smiled at her.

She gladly shook his hand and smiled back at him. "Please call me Francie." He nodded and motioned for her to sit in the chair. Francie found herself staring at him, amazed by just how cute he was. _What are you doing? You have a boyfriend! Will! _

"So what seems to be the problem?" He took out a clean pair of rubber gloves and put them on his hands. He pressed the button on the side of the chair, causing Francie to slowly fall back until she was lying down.

"Toothache! I've had it for just over a week now." She looked at him and realized that that had been a mistake. His eyes captivated her; they were deep green and so intense. His hair was tousled slightly, making it look like he had just gotten out of bed. _Will! Think about Will!_

"Let me take a look." He picked up a small mirror and placed it in her mouth so that he could see all of her teeth. "Yeah, the problem's your wisdom teeth." He removed his gloves and threw them into the bin beside him.

"Will they have to be taken out?"

He shook his head. "No, that's not necessary. I'll just give you some medication that should ease the pain, but you'll have to come back and see me in two days to check that everything's ok." Francie nodded as he stood up and walked over to his desk and wrote out the prescription for the medication that she needed.

"I haven't seen you around here before. Are you new or has it just been that long since I was last here?" He laughed at her joke and handed her the prescription.

"Well your records do show that it has been a couple of months since we last saw you!" Francie looked away, her cheeks colouring slightly. She knew that she should go to the dentist more often but she always put of going, until something like toothache happened. "But I did only just start here. I moved from New York a couple of weeks ago."

"Oh, ok." She folded the piece of paper and placed it in the back pocket of her jeans.

They walked back into the reception area. "The pain should hopefully go away in a couple of hours." He assured her, opening up her file and jotting down the medication that he had prescribed for her.

Sydney gathered her stuff as she noticed Francie standing at the receptionist's desk.

"Everything sorted?" She asked, handing the bag back to her. Francie nodded and smiled.

"Yes, you won't have to put up with my moaning for much longer!"

"That's such a relief." Sydney teased, putting her arm around Francie's shoulder and giving her a side hug.

"Miss Calfo, is 2:30 Thursday afternoon ok for you?" The receptionist asked politely.

"Yeah, that's fine." The receptionist nodded and wrote the time down in the appointment book. Michael handed her Francie's file, ready for it to be filed away with the others. He picked another file ready for his next patient.

"So I'll see you Thursday?" He noticed that another woman had joined his patient and his attention turned to her. She was dressed in jeans and a black top, her hair falling loosely around her face, which had minimal make-up but still managed to look radiant. He smiled at her before realizing that his gaze had been on her for far too long. He quickly looked back at Francie to see her nod.

"Yep, I'll see you then."

She turned to leave linking her arm through with Sydney's. Sydney stood still for a minute, her eyes silently studying his face, his hair, his eyes. She finally regained control of her feet and walked towards the door. As Francie was opening the door, Sydney took one last look behind her and was surprised to see that he was watching them walk out. Their eyes locked and there was nothing left to do but smile.

"Ok, who was that?"

"Michael Vaughn."

"He's your dentist?" Francie nodded.

Sydney sighed as she took out her car keys. "I really need to change my dentist." She joked, her lips curved up into a smile.


	2. Chapter 2

Hey!

Thanks for reviews:)

_vaughn is hot_ it's totally AU, no spys/Cia or anything like that:)

_Total Vaughn Lover_ Yeah i know who Josh Duhamel is! And let's just say hot is an understatement! lol he is gorgeous! He's the main reason why i watch Las Vegas! hehe

anyways here's chapter 2...

**Chapter 2**

"How did it go at the dentist?" Are we finally free of the tooth from hell?" Will joked as the girls walked into the apartment. He was sat at the kitchen able, a soda in one hand and the LA Times opened out infront of him. Francie punched him on the arm as she walked past, dropping her bags on the chair next to him.

"Very funny Will." She rolled her eyes at him as she got herself a bottle of water from the fridge. Sydney high fived Will as she walked past, earning her a cold glare from Francie. "Come on guys, I was not that bad!"

"Oh please! You had us both up for three nights because of it. I'd say that was pretty bad!" Sydney commented, as she sifted through the mail that had been left on the kitchen counter, throwing the junk mail in the bin.

Francie sighed. "Anyways, you'll be glad to know that the pain will be gone in a few hours!" She took a sip of her drink and sat down next to Will. "But it seems that Sydney had a bit more fun then I did at the dentist surgery." Francie joked, a grin on her face. Sydney spun around and looked at her, her forehead creased in confusion.

"And what's that supposed to mean?"

"Oh come on. It's so obvious; you have the hots for my dentist." Francie stated simply. Will looked at his Francie, Sydney then back at Francie again. Sydney laughed and shook her head.

"I'm sorry to disappoint you Fran, but I do not have the hots for your dentist!"

"You so do. You were talking about him all the way home and for most of the time while we were shopping." Weiss turned over the page of the newspaper, his eyes wondering over the various headlines, looking for one that caught his attention.

"Exaggerate much?" Sydney raised one eyebrow and folded her arms. Francie remained quiet so she continued. "I made one comment! And it wasn't even about him. I asked you if you wanted me to give you a ride on Thursday."

Francie laughed and nudged Will, disrupting his reading. "See, you want to give me a lift in the hopes that you'll run into Mr. Hottie again." Francie smiled to herself, proud that she had managed to analyse Sydney's actions.

Sydney rolled her eyes. "Don't call him that. And I offered because I thought I'd be a good friend, that was all! Not because I wanted to see him again." Sydney defended herself, but Francie's facial expressions told her that she didn't believe a word of what Sydney was saying.

"Sure!"

"Ok, so I admit that I thought he was cute!" She shrugged as if what she was saying didn't mean anything. "But I wouldn't say that I had the hots for him. I didn't say a single word to the guy, for all I know he could be some sort psychotic maniac or something." Sydney threw her hands up in defeat and walked towards the table, her hands now resting on the back of the chair.

"No, he's actually a really nice guy." Francie smiled at her friend and stared clapping her hands as her smile grew. "But I knew you liked him!"

Sydney sighed. "Whatever Fran."

""It was obvious that he liked you too! He stood there making all lovey dovey eyes at you, in fact you were both doing the eye thing." Sydney looked at Will, hoping for some sort of help, but he had conveniently disappeared under his newspaper, determined to keep out of all the girl-talk.

"Fran, honey, do you not think that you are reading a little too much into this? I don't know the guy, I saw him for a whole 60 seconds and you're already imaging what our wedding cake would look like!" Francie laughed at her friend's sarcasm. "Seriously, get over it!" Sydney walked towards her room, deciding that she would change and go for a run in the park.

Francie smiled, watching her walk away. _There is absolutely no way that I am getting over this; it's just too good!_


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

"How has the pain been since I last saw you?" Vaughn asked Francie as she sat down on the chair in his office. She smiled genuinely at him.

"Better! The pills you gave me really helped, although I'm sure my roommates are a little more grateful that it's over." She laughed, as she lay back in the chair, ready for him to take another look at her teeth.

"How come?"

"Well, apparently I kept them both awake at night, moaning about the pain!" He laughed as he took a look in her mouth.

"Yep, everything seems to be back to normal." He smiled as he wrote something down in her file. Francie sat up on the chair debating with herself about whether or not she should go ahead with the plan that she had made. She took one look at him and knew the answer. _Sydney's happiness depends on me! She'll thank me eventually…_

"Speaking of my roommates, we're having dinner Saturday night. You should come, that's if you don't have plans with your girlfriend or anything!" _This way I get to kill two birds with one stone; I am arranging for him and Sydney to meet again, and enquiring about his relationship status! _Francie was quite pleased with herself, although she knew that Sydney would kill her when she found out what she was doing.

"No, I don't have a girlfriend, but I wouldn't want to intrude on you and your friends!" Vaughn replied politely.

"Honestly it's no problem. You're new to the city and I thought it'd be a good opportunity for you to meet some new people! We're pretty harmless, well Will tends to make jokes that only he finds the comedy in them! But other than that…" She shrugged and he felt like he just couldn't say no.

He knew that she was right; he did need to meet some new people. Since he moved to Los Angeles, he hadn't made that many friends. He had Eric Weiss, who he had known while he was in New York. They had studied dentistry together at NYU, and they now both worked in the same surgery.

Francie sensed his hesitation, and pushed him further. "Come on! I'm cooking a small meal, and we'll have a couple of beers and just hang out!"

Vaughn slowly nodded, a smile forming on his face. "Sure! Sounds like fun!"

"Great!" Francie couldn't help but grin. _Everything's going as planned…_"So you have my address," She pointed at the file that was in his hand. "Drop by about 7:30ish!" She smiled at him and left the room.

"You actually agreed to have dinner with them?" Eric Weiss asked, as he took a bite of his hamburger. They had decided to go to McDonalds for their lunch, as neither of them had any more patients until the late afternoon.

"Yeah why not!"

"Because it's weird! You don't even know this woman and you're about to go over to her apartment for 'dinner'" He made quote signs in the air as he said dinner, but after being hit on the arm by Vaughn he quickly put his hands down.

Michael shook his head and rolled his eyes. "Weiss! It's only dinner! What's the worse that could happen?"

"Er…you could be dinner!" He yelled out, his cheeks colouring as people from other tables gave them strange looks. He smiled shyly and then focused his attention back onto his friend.

Vaughn put down his soda and stared back at him. "Oh gee, you could be exaggerating a little bit!" Weiss remained silent. "You really need to stop watching these horror films, because they are just filling your mind strange thoughts. And that's all this is, thoughts!" He stood up, throwing his trash in the nearest bin.

Saturday

Francie walked into the kitchen, ready to finish preparing the dinner. Sydney and Will were already in the kitchen, setting the table and talking amongst themselves. Francie felt quite bad for not telling them that somebody else was coming, but she knew they'd eventually get over it. _I'm gonna have to set out another place while they're not looking…_

She walked over to the stove and began stirring the bolognaise sauce. She glanced at the clock that was on the wall and smiled. _He'll be here in a few minutes!_

"Fran?" Sydney stopped laying out the plates and looked at her best friend.

"Yeah?"   
"What's going on? Why are we not eating dinner infront of the TV like we normally do?" Will also looked at Francie, the same question playing on his mind. Francie put down the spoon and turned to face them. "Because, tonight is special!" She smiled sweetly at them.   
"Yeah!" Sydney pointed at the table that they had set. "We got that." 

"But what's so special about tonight?" Will asked, as he stepped towards Francie, his arms wrapping around her waist. She looked into his eyes and realized that she couldn't lie to him; she would just have to bend the truth slightly.

"I just thought that we could do something different you know. And instead of just sitting watching TV, I thought we could talk, make friends!" She quickly realised the mistake that she had made. She managed to hide it well but it was too late; Sydney heard what she had said.

"Make friends? Francie I've known you guys for years, I think it's safe to say that we're friends." _Something strange is going on._   
Francie laughed. "Yeah I know that!" The sound of the doorbell disturbed all their thoughts, much to Francie's joy. "Er, Sydney honey, could you get that please?"   
Sydney lay down the third plate on the table. "Sure." Francie couldn't help but smile as Sydney walked out of the kitchen to open the front door.   
"What are you smiling at?" Will asked, confused by his girlfriend's strange behaviour.   
"You'll see!" 

Sydney cleared her throat as she reached the front door. She opened the door and suddenly everything fitted into place. _The reason why Francie had been acting so strangely and making them have a special 'dinner' was because she had invited him._ Sydney didn't know whether she was angry or annoyed. All she knew was that they were standing in the doorway smiling at each other, neither of them saying anything. Sydney looked away and opened her mouth to speak.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

"Hi." She smiled at him, her eyes meeting his.

"Hey, Francie invited me over for dinner…" He started to explain, as judging by the look on her face she wasn't exactly expecting him.

"Sure, come on in." She stepped aside as he walked into the apartment. The smell of his aftershave washed over her as he walked past, making her smile to herself. She had always believed that you could tell a lot about a guy by the aftershave that he was wearing, and she had to admit that so far he was doing well.

He turned around to look at her, and found her smiling brightly to herself. He didn't want to disturb the moment that she was having, so he just stood patiently beside her.

She could feel his eyes on her and quickly shook herself out of her gaze. _God, he's gonna think I'm crazy! _

"Can I take your jacket?" She offered, smiling at him, hoping that her smile would be enough for him to forget her strange behaviour.

He nodded as he took off his coat and handed it to her. "Thanks." She hung it up on the coat rack beside the door and walked towards the kitchen; Michael following close behind her.

"Michael! You came." Francie greeted him as he walked into the kitchen. She ignored the glares that Sydney was giving her and focused all of her attention on their guest. "Let me introduce you to everyone. This is my boyfriend, Will Tippin." She wrapped her arm around Will's waist as he shook hands with Michael. "And this is my roommate and best friend, Sydney Bristow."

Michael smiled at her. "It's good to finally put a name to a face!" Sydney mirrored his smile, her cheeks reddening slightly. "Oh I almost forgot!" He turned back to Francie and handed her the bottle of wine that he had bought. "I couldn't decide on red or white…"

"Red's perfectly fine!" She reassured him. She handed the bottle of wine to Will who had taken four wineglasses out of the cupboard. Sydney leaned back onto the kitchen counter, slowly shaking her head at Francie, not that Francie noticed. Ever since Michael had arrived, Francie had avoided making eye contact with Sydney. Will handed a glass to everyone and the kitchen filled with silence, except for the sound of the bubbling water in one of Francie's pans.

"Will, why don't you take Michael into the living room and talk about sports or whatever it is you guys talk about!" Sydney suggested. "I can help Francie with the dinner." She smiled. Francie sighed, she knew that Sydney was telling them to leave the kitchen for one reason and one reason only; she was gonna yell. Michael followed Will into the living room, where they started talking about hockey.

"Francie! I can't believe you didn't tell me that he was coming!" Sydney tried to keep her voice low, as the guys were only in the next room, and she definitely didn't want Michael to hear what she was saying.

"It slipped my mind!" Francie told her, although they both knew that that wasn't the truth. Sydney stared back at her, her left eyebrow raised. Francie bit her bottom lip hoping that they could talk about something else, but Sydney's eyes remained fixed on her as she waited for the truth.

Finally Francie broke down. "Ok, fine it didn't slip my mind." She stated quite matter-of-factly.

"Really? Because for a minute there I was starting to believe you!" Sydney replied sarcastically, folding her arms infront of her chest.

"Now really isn't the time for sarcasm!" Francie added, as she shook her head at her. She turned the stove off and served the pasta onto the three plates. Sydney took an extra plate out of the cupboard and handed it to Francie.

"So why didn't you tell me he was coming?"

"Because, I knew you would react like this. And then you'd probably make me cancel tonight, and it's just too good to cancel!"

"But if I had known that he was coming, I could have least made an effort!" Sydney looked down at her jeans and sweater that she was wearing. Half of her hair was tied back, and she had only put on a coat of mascara; the rest of her face was bare. She was being to wish that she had dressed up a little.

"Sydney, you and me both know that you look gorgeous no matter what you wear! So let's stop pretending that your beauty is an issue here." Sydney looked down at the floor. She didn't see why she was making such a big deal about this; after all Francie had arranged all of this for her.

"So why don't you just relax and get to know this guy. You might just end up liking him more than you already do…" Francie told her, placing the plates down on the table.

Francie shouted the guys back into the kitchen and told them that dinner was ready. Sydney smiled at Michael as she took a seat beside him. Francie watched their interaction, and knew that she had made the right decision in inviting him over.

Silence came over them as they started eating. Francie kept kicking Sydney under the table and shifting her head slightly towards Michael; indicating that Sydney should start a conversation with him. After about the fifth kick, Sydney took her hint and started talking.

"So Michael, Francie tells me you moved from New York?" Sydney asked, although she already knew that answer.

"Yeah, I've lived there for most of my life, but it was time for a change." He took a bite of his meal and smiled. "Francie, this is delicious!"

"He doesn't know what you do?" Sydney asked her curiously. If Michael knew what she did for a living, he probably wouldn't be so amazed by her cooking. Michael looked at the two women, wondering what they were talking about.

"No, it never came up in conversation!" She shrugged, colour filling her cheeks.

"She's a chef." Will informed him. Michael realised that was why the food was so good; this woman cooked for a living.

"I see. Well it's great anyways." Francie smiled at him, thanking him for his compliment. "What is it you guys do?" He asked, his eyes moving from Sydney to Will.

"I teach English Literature at a school, a couple of blocks from here." Sydney told him, taking a sip of the wine that he had bought.

"I'm a journalist."

They continued talking whilst they ate, and anyone would have thought that the four of them had been friends for years. Sydney found that Francie was right; she was starting to like Michael more than she did when they first met. He had a great personality and she was falling for him more and more as they talked. She wasn't the only one feeling this way; Michael was finding that Sydney was much more than just a pretty face. She was intelligent and fun to talk to.

After they had finished eating, Francie had volunteered herself and Will to wash the dishes, giving Sydney and Michael the opportunity to talk on their own. Sydney got two beers out of the fridge and smiled brightly at Francie, before going to join him in the living room.

"Here you go." She handed him the bottle of beer and sat down beside him on the couch, her legs tucked underneath her.

"Thanks." He took a sip of the beer. The room was dark, the only light coming from two lamps that Francie had left on. Even through the dim light, Michael could tell that she was looking at him, her eyes studying his face.

"What?" He asked.

She smiled, noticing how he his cheeks had reddened slightly, making him look cuter than before. She liked that she had that power of him, although she had only known him for a short while; just the thought of her watching him embarrassed him. "Nothing." She shook her head, and he smiled back at her.

"So what does Michael Vaughn do when he's not checking for cavities?" She teased, resting her elbow on the back of the sofa, propping her head up.

" I play hockey."

Sydney was surprised by his answer. "Hockey?"

"Yeah, why are you so surprised?" He asked, turning on the coach to face her.

She shrugged. "I don't know. I guess you just don't seem the hockey type, you know. Most guys that play hockey are really rough, always getting into fights and you just don't seem to be like that. I know I've only known you for a couple of hours, and I may be wrong about this, but I'd say that you were more caring and gentler than that." She drank some of her beer, her eyes raising to meet his. "If that made any sense at all."

They both laughed, as he nodded his head, agreeing with her. "Yeah, I don't do the whole fight on ice thing, I tend to skate in the other direction!" He joked. They fell into a comfortable silence, as they both drank their drinks. They kept glancing at each other, but as soon as they realised that the other was watching they would look away.

When they had finished drying the dishes, Will grabbed a beer and was about to walk into the living room when Francie stopped him.

"Where are you going?" She asked, although the answer was obvious.

"To the living room…"

"Will! You can't go in there, what if they're like making out or something!" Francie shook her head at him, as she moved to stand infront of him and the doorway.

"Francie come on! This is Sydney we're talking about; she only just met the guy. I doubt they're making out."

"You never know! Besides, do you really want to disturb them?"

Will dodged past Francie and turned to face her. "I'm sure they'll both be so annoyed when my presence interrupts their conversation." He took hold of Francie's hand and led her to the living room.

"What are you guys up to?" Will asked, ready to prove his point to Francie.

"We were just talking." Sydney replied. Will looked at his girlfriend and raised his eyebrows, a look of pure shock on his face.

"Really?" He asked, more for Francie's benefit then anybodyelse's. Sydney looked at her two best friends, wondering what was going on. She looked back at Michael and shrugged, letting him know that she had absolutely no idea what that was all about. Francie and Will sat down with them and they continued their conversations. Francie spent the whole time observing Sydney and Michael, looking for any sign that would indicate that they could be more than just friends. Will knew what he was doing, and shook his head, deciding that he would just let her get on with it.

An hour and a half later, Michael decided that it was time he left. Sydney stood up with him. "I'll show you out."

Michael thanked Francie for her invitation and said goodbye to Will. Francie told him that they could hang out again, and he smiled at them as he agreed. Sydney walked into the hallway and took his jacket off the rack, and handed it to him.

She opened the door and they both stood in the doorway, leaning back on either side of the doorframe. "I had a great time tonight." He told her, a smile on his lips.

Sydney nodded, her smile matching his. "Yeah me too. It was fun."

Vaughn knew that if this was a date, he was supposed to kiss her round about now. But the truth was, this wasn't a date; he had just had dinner with them, and as much as he wanted to kiss her, he knew that it would best if he didn't. Sydney could tell that he was thinking about kissing her. She didn't know if she was imagining it or not, but his eyes looked like they were slowly drifting down to her lips. She dismissed this thought, telling herself that she was just trying to make something happen, when she knew that nothing would.

He stepped outside the house, and any chance of him kissing her was gone. She smiled at him, trying to not let her disappointment show.

"Bye Syd."

"Yeah bye Michael." She watched him walk away and then shut the door, walking back into the living room.

"So…did you kiss him?" Francie asked, practically jumping up and down with excitement.

"Francie!" Will and Sydney shouted at the same time. Francie looked at them both, confused at what they were shouting about.

"Well did you?" Sydney rolled her eyes.

"No Fran, I didn't." Francie looked down at the floor, disappointment in her eyes. "I'm gonna go to bed, goodnight guys." She kissed them both on the cheek and headed towards her room. She put on her pyjamas and climbed into bed. She lay there, staring up at the ceiling and that's when it hit her. She was just as disappointed as Francie was that he hadn't kissed her.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

"So?" Weiss sat back in the chair, his coffee cup warming up his cold hands.

"So what?" Vaughn picked his drink up from the table infront of them and took a sip.

"Am I gonna get to hear about dinner last night?" They both had no patients for the afternoon, so Weiss had suggested that they go to Starbucks for a coffee. They had been there for twenty minutes and Vaughn still hadn't mentioned anything about the night before.

Vaughn nodded. "It was nice!"

"Nice? I'm gonna need a little more than nice…"

"You're as bad as women when it comes to gossip, you do know that right?" Michael joked, while Weiss glared at him.

"Humour me!"

Vaughn sighed, realising that he was going to have to tell him something about the night before. "It was great. Francie made me feel really welcome…"

"And the brunette?" Weiss cut in, wanting to hear about Sydney. Michael thought carefully about his friend's question. He just didn't know where to start with his answer. After spending just a few hours with her, he knew that she was a kind, caring person, who was very intelligent and fun to be around.

"Sydney…is amazing." He could continue the list on, but decided that that would be the only information that Weiss would get.

"Did you kiss her?"

Michael's eyes feel to the table as he sighed. He had relived the last few minutes that he had spent with her over and over again in his head, and each time he had kissed her instead of walking away. "No."

Weiss laughed, thinking that Vaughn was joking, but Vaughn's face was serious. "Why not?"

Vaughn shrugged and sat back in the chair. "I guess it just didn't feel right!" He lied; he had absolutely no idea why he hadn't kissed her.

Weiss sat forward and stared at his friend. "What's not to feel right? You like her don't you?" Vaughn nodded. "And she likes you?"

"I don't…"

"Vaughn!" Weiss cut in again. He knew that this would be the part of the conversation where Vaughn would get all modest and say that she didn't like him, when in reality they both knew that she did.

"Ok, I suppose she does…" Judging by the way that she was acting around him the night before, Vaughn would say that there was a chance that she liked him.

"So then where is your problem?"

He ran his hand through his already tousled hair and shook his head. "I don't know. I guess I'm just an idiot!"

"Yeah, you got that right!"

"Ok class, I want you all to finish writing your analysis of Act 2 Scene 3. Make sure you all include the language that Shakespeare uses, and what effect he's trying to create!" Sydney stacked up the piles of paper that were on her desk as he class filed out at the end of the day. Unlike most people, she could wake up every morning and look forward to going to work. She gathered the papers that she needed to mark that night, and walked out of the classroom. She took her cell phone out of her bag and started to make a call.

"Hey Fran, it's me." She made her way through the crowds of students that lined the hallways. "Are you still at the restaurant?"

"Yeah, and it looks like I'm gonna be here for a lot longer!" Francie sighed down the phone.

Sydney exited the building and walked over to her car. "Well how about I stop by on the way home and we can have a little chat. I've got some time before I start grading these papers…" Sydney suggested, as she got into her car and placed her work on the back seat.

"Yeah that'll be great. I haven't had a proper break all day!"

"Ok, I'll grab some coffee for us on the way over."

"Great. See you soon!" Sydney hung up the phone and tossed it on the seat next to her.

She drove to the nearest Starbucks and locked up the car. She walked into the small coffee shop and joined the back of the queue.

"So I was thinking about asking Tina out, you know that receptionist who just started last week…" Weiss started a new conversation, sensing that Vaughn no longer wanted to talk about Sydney.

"Oh right…" Weiss carried on talking, but Vaughn's attention was no longer on what his friend was saying. The tall brunette that had walked in only seconds before had stole his attention. She brushed a strand of her hair behind her ear, allowing him to see her face. He smiled to himself as he recognised her.

Weiss realised that he wasn't being listened to and stopped talking. "Dude, what are you looking at?"

Vaughn took his eyes away from Sydney long enough to look at his friend. "Nothing!" He shrugged, a shy smile on his face. Not believing him, Weiss turned around to see the woman who he had been staring at. She was wearing a grey skirt and black top, which hugged her slender figure. "So I see you're already over this Sydney chick, hey?" Weiss joked as he turned back around.

Vaughn rolled his eyes and sighed. "No dumbass, that _is_ Sydney!"

Weiss cleared his throat and smiled. "Yeah, I knew that!" He tried to cover up his stupidity, but Vaughn just laughed at him. "So, remind me again why you're sitting here with me, while she's over there?" He quickly started talking again, wanting to move the conversation away from his earlier mistake.

"I can't just walk up to her and start talking!" Weiss raised his eyebrows at him. "Can I?"

"Do you ever want to kiss her? Go on a date with her?" Vaughn nodded. "Well go and talk to her!" Weiss rolled his eyes and took a sip of his coffee.

"You're right. I can do this." He stood up and took a deep breath as he walked towards her.

Sydney stepped towards the counter and smiled. "Hi, can I have two tall cappuccinos to take out please?"

"That'll be 5.50 all together." Sydney opened her purse and handed her the money.

"Sydney?"

Sydney turned around and smiled. "Hi Michael." He gave her a smile that made her cheeks redden slightly, and she had to look away to avoid staring at his smile.

"How are you?" He didn't know what he was supposed to say to her, so he stuck to a polite conversation starter.

"I'm really good thanks…"

"Miss, here's your coffee." The girl handed her two cups of hot coffee.

"Thanks." Sydney turned back towards Michael. "I had a really great time last night!" Sydney smiled at him.

"Yeah, me too."

Sydney looked at her watch and sighed. "I gotta run, I'm meeting Francie at the restaurant." He nodded, but she noticed that his smile had faded a little. "It was nice seeing you again Michael…"

"Yeah you too. Bye Syd." He watched as she walked away from him and out of the coffee shop. _What the hell was that? Why did I not ask her out? _Mentally kicking himself, Vaughn sat back down opposite Weiss.

"So…how did it go?"

"It's official. I am an idiot!" Vaughn sighed, resting his head in his hands.

"You didn't ask her out?" Weiss couldn't believe what he was hearing. Usually Vaughn had no problems asking women out, what was so different now? Vaughn shook his head. "Go find her now! She's only gonna be outside!" Weiss encouraged him.

Vaughn looked up for a second and decided that Weiss was right. He stood up and ran out of the coffee shop, looking down the street for any sign of Sydney. He started to panic, as he couldn't find her, all he could see where strangers walking past, going about their day. He was about to give up, when he spotted her across the street opening her car door. Without thinking, he ran into the road, receiving a few beeps from angry drivers.

"Sydney, wait up." He safely made it to the other side of the road, and stopped beside her car.

"Michael, is everything ok?" She asked, concern in her voice. She had no idea why he had followed her out of Starbucks, but the smile on her face told her that it was nothing too serious.

"Yeah, it's great. I just wanted to ask you if you would like to go out sometime. Like on a date…" He trailed off and looked at her. He hadn't even thought what he would do if she said no, and he hoped that he wouldn't have to find out.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

Sydney smiled and nodded at him. "I'd like that." She replied genuinely. She watched as the anxious look on his face, was replaced with a smile that mirrored her own.

"Great!"

They remained standing in the street, each of them thinking about the their date. Finally Sydney realized that she had to get going and broke the silence. "My number's the same as Francie's. Give me a call." She gave him one last smile, before climbing into her car. Vaughn watched her leave for the second time that day, only this time he felt better about the way that their conversation had ended.

Sydney opened the windows in the car as she pulled up at some traffic lights. She waited until she was a couple of streets away from where she'd left Michael before she let all her excitement out. She let out a high pitched squeal and excitedly hit the steering wheel. Once she was done, she cleared her throat and glanced up at the traffic lights, a huge grin on her face. Her smile quickly faded as she felt a pair of eyes on her. She slowly turned to see an elderly woman in the car next to her, her eyebrow raised as she curiously watched Sydney. Sydney blushed and sunk further into her seat, while she waited for the lights to change.

Vaughn hadn't stopped smiling since Sydney had agreed to go out with him. Him and Weiss were walking back to work, and Weiss could sense a change in his friend's attitude. "So where are you going to take her?"

Vaughn's smile faded as he realized that he had no idea. "Oh God, I hadn't thought about that. I don't want to take her out to dinner; we had dinner last night…" He trailed off, looking at Weiss for some ideas.

"Ok, you just need to come up with something that's suitable for a first date!"

"Like what?"

"Erm…a movie, the fair, a baseball game…oh I know!" Weiss stood still in the middle of the street, a smile on his lips. "I have two tickets to the Kings game on Friday. You can take her to that, it's like the perfect first date. You can both get to know each other better while you watch the game!"

"The Kings aren't playing on Friday!"

Weiss laughed, and gave Vaughn a funny look. "Yeah, they are. I bought tickets last week. You call yourself a fan, and you don't even know when your favourite team is playing." He rolled his eyes at Vaughn as they started walking again. Vaughn was slightly confused; he had no idea that there was a game that week, but Weiss had bought tickets so there must be one.

"You'd give me the tickets?"

"Well I was going to go with you anyways, but you might as well take Sydney. You can just pay for us to see the next game."

"Thanks man." Vaughn patted Weiss on the back. He was relieved that he now had some place to take Sydney for their first official date, and that was all thanks to Weiss.

"You will never believe what happened to me today…" Sydney started up a conversation, as she sat across from Francie in the restaurant. The restaurant was fairly empty; they didn't usually start filling up until around 8 O'clock, so Francie had plenty of time to take a break.

Francie thought for a few seconds before replying. "You got a promotion?" Sydney shook her head. "You met someone famous?" She shook her head again. "You ran over a cat?"

Sydney laughed and rolled her eyes. "Do you really think I'd be smiling right now if I'd just did that?"

"True. Ok, I give up!" Francie shrugged, as she drank the coffee that Sydney had brought.

"You give up too easily!" Sydney teased. "Michael asked me out!" Her smile grew. Saying it out loud made it seem less of a dream.

"Michael?" Francie looked at her questioningly and then her eyes grew wider. "Michael, as in my dentist Michael? That Michael?"

Sydney nodded, causing Francie to scream excitedly. She threw her hands over her mouth, as she tried to calm herself. "Oh My God, I knew you guys like each other."

Sydney blushed and looked down at the table.

"So tell me what happened…"

Later that night, Sydney was sat crossed legged on her couch, a stack of assignment papers layed out infront of her. Francie was still at the restaurant, so the house was fairly quite except for Norah Jone's voice, which was coming from the CD player. With a glass of wine in one hand, and a red marker pen in the other, Sydney started to mark the work. She was half way through one question, when the phone rang, breaking her concentration. She placed the glass down on the table as she reached for the phone.

"Hello?"

"Sydney? It's Michael Vaughn…"

Sydney dropped her pen and sat back on the couch, a bright smile on her lips. "Hi Michael."

"Hey. I hope I wasn't interrupting anything." He had been debating with himself all day, about whether or not he should call her that night. The hockey game was in 2 days, and he wanted to give her enough notice, but he didn't want to seem to keen. But after drinking 2 bottles of beer, he finally plucked up the courage to call her.

"No don't worry about it. I was just experiencing the joys of teaching; marking." They both laughed at her comment.

"I was just calling to see if you like ice hockey?" His heart was beating in his chest again, as he anxiously waited for her answer. _Why does she have this effect on me? _

"Yeah, I love hockey." Although she hadn't been to many games, she would always watch the games on the TV whenever Will was over; which was practically all the time.

"Great, I have two tickets for the game on Friday night, and I'd love for you to come with me." Sydney could hear the excitement in his voice, and she was feeling exactly the same way.

"Yeah I'd love to." Vaughn had to stop himself from dancing there and then in the middle of his living room. They had been the words that he was hoping to here.

"Ok, I'll pick you up around 7:30?"

"Yeah that's good."

"Well I guess I'll let you get back to your work. Good night Syd."

"Ok. Good night Michael." Sydney hung up the phone and for the second time that day. She tried to continue with her work, but she could no longer concentrate. All she could think about was that she now had a date with Michael Vaughn.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

Sydney waited anxiously all week for Friday to arrive. Francie had been thrilled at the news that they were going to a hockey game, and she insisted that she help her get ready, much to Sydney's dismay.

"Francie, come on. I think I got this covered!" Sydney told Francie, who was busying herself in Sydney's closet. Every so often she would throw clothes into the room, not giving a thought to the fact that Sydney would have to be the one to pick them all up.

"You really haven't." She emerged from the closet, a stack of clothes lying in her arms. Sydney rolled her eyes, as her best friend dropped the clothes onto the bed. "Ok, so we have the classic jeans and cute T-shirt look." She held up a pair of jeans and the pink top that Sydney absolutely loved. "This can also be worn with the crème jacket!" She picked the jacket up and handed it to Sydney.

"Now, if you wanted to take the more dressier approach, we have the brown skirt and halterneck top." Francie handed Sydney the second outfit and started rummaging through the piles of clothes that was on the bed.

Sydney rolled her eyes and took a seat on the edge of the bed. "You know, I often wondered why you didn't take up a career in fashion. Just think, you could make money doing this for a living!" Sydney teased, but Francie hadn't heard a word of what she was saying. She was far too preoccupied with the clothes.

After a couple more minutes, Francie straightened up and rested her hands on her hips. "I'm gonna say, if I were you, I'd go with the jeans. It's more hockeyish than the skirt!"

"Gee Fran, I couldn't have made that decision on my own!" Sydney joked, walking over to her best friend.

"Hey! You could at least wait until I'd left the room before you start hurting my feelings!" Francie laughed as Sydney hugged her.

"Seriously though Francie. Thank you for your help." Francie could tell that Sydney was now being serious, every trace of her humour had left her face.

"Don't mention it."

"And I guess I should also thank you for having tooth ache in the first place! I mean, if you'd have never had to go to the dentist, then I wouldn't have had a hot date tonight!"

"Oh, so now everyone's thankful for the tooth ache!" Francie rolled her eyes and they both laughed. Sydney glanced at her watch and started to panic; she only had forty minutes until Michael was due to arrive. She quickly ushered Francie out of her room so that she could get ready.

Exactly forty minutes later, there was a knock on the door. Sydney was still in her room, putting on the finishing touches, so Francie answered the door. She couldn't help but smile at him as she answered the door, she was just so happy that they were finally going out.

"Hey Michael."

"Hey. Is Sydney ready?"

"Yeah she should be. Come inside." She walked into the hallway and Michael followed her inside. "Just take a seat, I'll go and tell her you're here." Michael nodded and walked into the living room, while Francie ran to Sydney's room.

"You're date is here!" She announced as she walked into Sydney's bedroom. Sydney smiled at her and spun around in the middle of her room.

"How do I look?"

"Gorgeous. Now don't keep him waiting!"

Sydney took a deep breath and walked towards the living room. She couldn't believe how nervous she was; after all it was just a date. _I never usually get this worked up about going out with a guy; why should this time be any different?_ She paused, before walking into the living room where Michael was sat waiting on the couch. He stood up when he heard her enter and turned to face her. He couldn't wipe the smile of his face as he laid eyes on her. She was without a doubt, the most beautiful woman that he had ever seen.

Sydney blushed and smiled at him. "Hey." His eyes were still on her, but Michael was finding it hard to look away.

"Hi." He returned her smile. "You look…." He tried to find the right word to describe her but he couldn't.

Sydney laughed, realising that he wasn't going to finish his sentence. "Thanks. You ready to go?" Vaughn nodded and followed her out of the house.

When they reached Vaughn's car, he stepped infront of her and opened the door for her. Sydney thanked him and got into the car, watching as he walked around the front of the vehicle. He was dressed simply in beige combat pants and a black top, but Sydney thought that he looked hotter than ever.

The drive to the stadium went fairly quickly. They talked all the way there, and it was as if they had known each other for years, and not a matter of days. Vaughn parked the car and they got out, joining the masses of people who were walking into the stadium.

Vaughn grabbed Sydney's arm and led her out of the crowd. "I know another way in." He flashed her a smile and they started walking around the other side of the building, away from the crowds of people.

He knocked on the back door of the stadium, and a tall, middle ages guy opened it. Sydney watched the two guys greet each other, and then Vaughn leaned forward, whispering something to the man that Sydney couldn't hear. He thought for a couple of seconds and then nodded at Vaughn; looking at the two tickets and stepping aside, allowing them to enter the building. Michael gestured for Sydney to go before him, and then he followed her, thanking the man as he went.

Once they were out of earshot, Sydney turned to Vaughn. "I take it you come here a lot?"

"Yeah. Me and Weiss have season tickets." He looked behind him. "That's Tad. He came to me a little while ago, after getting into a hockey fight. He needed a lot of dental work doing, so I helped him out." He explained as they excited the long corridor, which led to the ice rink.

Vaughn led Sydney up the stairs as they tried to find their seats. Vaughn looked down at the seat number and smiled; Weiss had actually given him pretty good tickets.

"Do you want anything to eat or drink?" He asked as they finally sat down.

"No thanks, I'm good." She smiled at him, and then glanced around at the people in the stadium. Something struck her as odd, but she couldn't quite place her finger on what it was. The stadium just didn't look the way it did whenever she watched hockey games on the TV. "Er…Michael?"

"Yeah?"

"I don't actually come to actual games that often, I just usually watch them on TV with Will," Vaughn looked at her strangely, wondering where she was going with this. "So I don't actually know if this is normal or not. But are there usually this many women here?"

Vaughn smiled at her question and then looked around the stadium to see that she was right. The majority of people there were elderly women, women with young children, or just generally groups of women. There were only a handful of guys dotted around the stands, and those that were there didn't look too pleased about it.

"That's odd!" They looked at each other and laughed. "Maybe the sport's catching on!" He suggested, causing Sydney to laugh. He noticed how her eyes lit up as she laughed, making them look even more adorable then they already did.

Sydney was about to respond to his comment when the lights of the stadium dimmed. She smiled excitedly at him and gazed down at the ice. The whole stadium quietened down as a voice started talking over the loud speakers.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, it is my honour to welcome to the rink, the Los Angeles Ice Capades."

Everyone in the stadium stood up and started cheering as a group of ice skaters came onto the ice. Sydney and Michael remained seated, and slowly turned to look at each other.

"The Ice Capades?" Sydney asked, finding it difficult to hold her laughter in. Vaughn looked down at the floor, feeling his cheeks redden excessively. About ten minutes ago, he had been ready to thank Weiss for giving him such good tickets, but now he was ready to kill his friend. He was so embarrassed; he had wanted his date with Sydney to go perfectly, and now it was most probably ruined.

Sydney could tell by looking at him that he felt bad, so she quickly lightened the mood. "I would never have guessed that you were a Capades fan…" She playfully nudged him and he laughed, deciding to play along.

"Yeah, well it's a secret I try hard to keep hidden!" 

The stadium was filled with music as the skaters started doing their routines. Vaughn groaned and rested his head in his hands. Just when he thought the date couldn't get any worse; it managed to do just that.

"We can just go if you want." He stood up, his hands in his pockets.

"Oh come on," She put her hand on his arm to stop him from leaving. "It might be fun!" Her hand lingered on his arm for slightly longer than necessary before he finally sat down.

Maybe the date won't be as bad as I thought… 

"Ok, so that was probably you're worst first date right?" Vaughn asked as they left the stadium. They had sat and watched the Ice Capades for the past two hours, and although Sydney had looked like she enjoyed it, Vaughn knew that it had been a bad date.

"I wouldn't say that." She gave him a reassuring smile. "Believe it or not, I actually had a good time!"

"You did?"

"Yeah. You should have seen your face everytime one of the guys in tights came near our end of the rink. It was priceless!" Sydney laughed again, as she pictured the look of shear horror that was on his face.

"You are laughing at me?" Vaughn teased.

"I couldn't help it! You were just so cute…" Sydney stopped herself from talking as she realised what she had just said. Vaughn blushed, while inside his stomach was doing somersaults. _She thinks I'm cute…_

Sydney cleared her throat, hoping that he hadn't heard her comment, although they both knew that he had. They walked the rest of the way to the car in silence.

When they got into the car, the conversation started up again, as they started talking about the Capades.

"I can't believe Weiss gave me tickets to that." He shook his head and found himself laughing at what Weiss had done.

"Do you think he did it on purpose?"

"It's hard to say with Weiss. He's a practical joker, but he also could have genuinely made the mistake." He started driving Sydney back home.

Fifteen minutes later, they were walking up the driveway to Sydney's apartment. They stopped on the doorstep, while Sydney fumbled in her bag for her keys.

"I had a great time tonight Michael!" He looked at her sceptically and she laughed. "Ok, so it wasn't like other first dates that I've had, but that doesn't mean that it wasn't any less fun."

"I had a good time too. What can I say, the company made up for the lousy choice of location."

Sydney smiled, her eyes locking with his. They both knew what was coming next; the goodnight kiss. Vaughn was determined that tonight he wasn't going to make the mistake of not kissing her again. He leaned towards her and was relieved when she started to move closer to him too.

A sudden bang made them both pull apart. Sydney looked down the drive to see a grey cat running away from the trashcan that it had just knocked over. Sydney sighed and kissed Vaughn on the cheek.

"Goodnight Michael." She put her keys in the door and started to turn the lock.

_Don't make the same mistake again… _Vaughn touched her arm and turned her back around to face him. "Wait…" He whispered, placing his hands on her waist and pulling her towards him. Sydney wrapped her arms around his neck, bringing his lips closer to hers. He gently pushed her up against the door as they kissed deepened.

They finally pulled apart, both slightly out of breath. "Goodnight Sydney." He smiled at her and walked away, feeling much happier. Now matter how lame the actual date may have been he no longer cared; he got to finally kiss Sydney Bristow.


	8. chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

After their date had ended, Sydney walked back into her apartment with a smile on her face, that she was convinced would last for days. All the lights were switched off, so Sydney assumed that Francie had already gone to bed, so she headed to her room ready to do the same.

She kept thinking back to their date as she changed for bed and removed her make-up. It hadn't exactly been like any other first dates that she had had in the past, but some how it had managed to be better. Not everyone could say that they had been to see the Ice Capades on a first date. She laughed again at the thought of it as she climbed into bed.

She was just settling down when there was a soft tap on her bedroom door, and in crept Francie. She silently walked over to Sydney's bed, not even bothering to switch on the light, as she climbed into the opposite side of Sydney's bed. Sydney lay with her eyes closed, waiting for Francie to say something, but she just remained silent.

After a couple of minutes, Sydney opened her eyes and sighed. "Are you going to say something, or are you trying to communicate with me telepathically?"

Francie laughed. "I was waiting for you to start telling me about your hot date…" She propped herself up on one elbow and looked at Sydney. Although there were no lights on, there was enough light coming in from the street to allow Francie to see the smile that appeared on Sydney's face at the mention of the date.

"It was different…"

"Different? Good different?"

Sydney nodded and turned to face Francie. "Definitely good different. Although we didn't actually get to see the hockey game!"

Francie gasped and her hand flew over her mouth. "Sydney Anne Bristow! You dark horse!"

Sydney looked at her strangely and then clicked on to what she was implying. "Francie I didn't sleep with him, if that's what you're thinking." She told her, although she was pretty certain that that was the thought currently running through her friend's mind. "If you had let me carry on before your mind immediately jumped into the gutter," she paused and rolled her eyes at her. "I would have told you that the reason that we missed the game was because there wasn't one. His friend had given us tickets to see the Ice Capades."

Francie immediately burst out laughing, but Sydney's serious expression told her that she wasn't joking. "You're serious?" Sydney nodded. "Oh. That's er…different!"

"Yeah but it didn't really matter, you know!" Sydney started to explain. "Although the date didn't _exactly_ go as planned, we still managed to have a really great time…"

"What happened after the game?"

"He drove me home." Sydney stated simply, finding it hard to suppress her smile. She knew what Francie wanted to hear, but she couldn't help but tease her a little about it.

Francie sighed. "And…"

Sydney paused for a minute, stealing a glance at the anxious look that had found its way onto Francie's face. "We kissed." She smiled again as she told Francie all about what had happened on the doorstep.

Michael got back into his car and drove to Weiss's, eager to find out what he was playing at with the tickets. He knocked on the front door a couple of times but there was no answer. Looking through the front window, he noticed that the house was dark and looked like no one was home. Vaughn sighed as he walked back to his car and began to dial Eric's cell, but after three rings his answering machine picked up.

The next morning, Vaughn arrived at the office and asked the receptionist if Weiss was in yet. She nodded and told him that he was currently with his first patient of the day. Without thinking twice Vaughn marched into Weiss's office, not even bothering to knock.

Both Weiss's and his patient's eyes turned to look at the door as it was flung open.

"What the hell were you playing at?" Although the date had turned out ok in the end, Vaughn was still angry about the apparent prank that Weiss had played. Michael stood in the centre of the room; his cold eyes fixed on him.

Weiss put down his mirror and stared back at his friend, confusion written all over his face. He had no idea what he was talking about, but the fact that Michael was making a scene infront of a patient told Weiss that it was serious.

"What are you talking about?" He stood up and walked towards Vaughn, trying to hush his voice so that his patient couldn't hear what they were saying, but Vaughn had other ideas. Instead of talking quieter, Vaughn continued to yell at him while he waited for answers.

"The stunt you pulled last night!"

Weiss studied his face, searching for any clue about what he was shouting about, but there was none. "Again, I'm gonna have to go with, what are you talking about?"

"Don't play dumb with me Weiss. I know you did it on purpose."

"Did what on purpose?" Weiss shouted back. He was started to get annoyed about the way he was being spoken to, especially when he had no idea what he was being accused of.

"Tried to ruin my date with Sydney." He paused, waiting to see some form of reaction from Weiss but there was none. "Why did you do it? Were you jealous or something that I was going out with her?" Weiss excused himself from his patient and dragged Vaughn out of the room and into his own office. Once they were there, Weiss slammed the door shut and turned to face his colleague.

"You want to tell me what all that was about." Vaughn was quiet for the first time in the past five minutes. "First you come barging into my office while I'm with a patient. Then you start shouting accusations at me without even telling me what I've done. What's your deal?"

"My deal? Try the fact that you sent me to an Ice Capades show on my first date with Sydney!"

"What?" Weiss eyes grew as he stared at his friend. "I gave you hockey tickets, how the hell did you end up at the Ice Capades?"

"No, I think you'll find they were Capades tickets!"

Weiss was quiet for a minute as he thought about what Vaughn was saying. Vaughn watched him intently, as his expression went from confusion to shock.

"Oh no…" His eyes fell to the floor as he realised what he had done.

"What?"

"My mother…"

Vaughn laughed for the first time all morning. "I'm sorry, but what has your mother got to do with this?"

"I bought Ice Capades tickets for her birthday when I bought our hockey tickets. I must have mixed them up." Vaughn had been friends with Weiss long enough to know when he was making something up; and this wasn't one of those times. "Oh God, Michael I'm so sorry."

Vaughn finally got the apology that he had been waiting for, but it no longer mattered. He knew that Weiss had made a genuine mistake and wasn't just trying to ruin any chance that Michael had with Sydney.

"Hey don't worry about it." He suddenly started to feel guilty about his earlier outburst.

"No, I'm such a dumbass. I should have checked!"

"Weiss, honestly it's…" Before Vaughn could finish his sentence, Weiss walked out of the room and returned seconds later with a brown folder in his hands.

"Sydney lives with Francie right?" Vaughn nodded, wondering what he was doing. He soon got his answer as Weiss picked up the phone, but before Vaughn could stop him, he had already started to dial the number. All he could do now was wait, and hope that Weiss didn't do anything stupid.

"Hello?" Weiss spoke as soon as the phone was picked up.

"Hi."

"Is this Sydney?" He knew how silly he sounded, but he didn't know what else to do. He had to make it up to his friend, one way, or the other. And considering he had no other ideas, this was definitely the way to go.

"Er…yes. Who is this?"

"This is Eric Weiss from the Dental Surgery, we met the other day at the coffee shop…"

"Oh yes I remember. What's up?"

"I was just calling to apologise about your date last night. It was my fault; I made a mistake with the tickets and I didn't mean to ruin your evening." He looked at Vaughn as he said this, his apology going out to both of them.

Sydney smiled on the other end of the phone. "You don't have to apologise, the date went fine." She tried to reassure him.

"No I wanted to apologise. I didn't want you to hold my mistake against Michael. Last night was probably a first for him, he's usually smooth with his first dates, but I doubt he'll be taking my advice any longer…" He looked over at Vaughn who was running his hand across his neck, indicating for him to stop, although Sydney was laughing on the other end of the phone. "Er Sydney I've got to go, but I'll have Michael call you later."

They said their goodbyes and hung up the phone. Vaughn stared at Weiss who just looked back at him and shrugged. "Well that went well!"


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

Later that night, Francie and Will went out, leaving Sydney alone in the apartment. She made a bowl of popcorn and settled herself on the couch and began to watch a made for TV movie. A couple of minutes into the film, the phone rang distracting her from what she was watching. She sighed and reached over for the phone, her eyes never once leaving the screen.

"Hello?" She put another piece of popcorn in her mouth and sat back on the couch.

"Hi Sydney. It's Michael." She smiled and found herself no longer paying attention to the film. She couldn't believe that he had actually called; when Eric had told her that Michael would call her, she didn't actually think that he was telling the truth. She thought he was just trying to make up for the mistake that he had made.

"Oh hey."

"I wanted to apologise about Weiss and the phone call earlier on today…" Vaughn started to apologise but Sydney cut him off.

"It's ok. It was really sweet of him to call and apologise."

"The reason I called was to see if you had any plans for tomorrow afternoon…" Before Vaughn had left the office, Weiss had given him strict instructions that he was to ask Sydney out again, and surprisingly Vaughn found himself taking Weiss's advice.

"No I'm free."

"Great. Meet me at the gates of the park around about 2?"

Sydney's smile grew even more at the thought of another date with him. "Sure. I'll see you then."

The following day, Sydney parked her car across the road from the park. She got out and quickly checked her reflection in the car window before crossing the street. She had been excited about the date all night, and the minute Francie got home Sydney had to tell her about it, and she was equally as excited.

She got to the gates to find that Vaughn was already there. She flashed him a smile, which he returned.

"Hey, sorry I'm late."

"You're not. I just got here." He reassured her with another smile. They walked through the gates and into the park. The park was quite packed with it being Sunday, as everyone was trying to spend a relaxing day under the Californian sun before work started the next day.

"So I thought that since our last date didn't quite go as planned…" They both laughed as Vaughn started talking. "That we could just take a walk in the park, and I'll even buy you some ice cream if you're lucky," he teased.

"Oh, only if I'm lucky hey?" She looked at him and shook her head. "You should have told me, I would have brought my lucky charm!" She joked back, enjoying the playfulness between them.

He laughed and then his face turned serious again. "But at least nothing can go wrong with a walk in the park."

Sydney thought for a minute and shrugged. "It could rain!" She turned to face him and burst out laughing. He just rolled her eyes at her and mumbled something about jinxing things.

They continued to walk through the park, idly talking, until Sydney spotted an ice cream vendor. She stopped walking and innocently looked at him. "So, what are my chances of getting that ice cream?"

He looked between her and the ice cream truck. "I'd say they were pretty good. Come on." He placed his hand on her back and led her towards the vendor.

Sydney looked at the menu trying to decide which flavour she wanted. She liked the majority of flavours on the list, so picking one of them was difficult. After a couple of minutes, the vendor looked at Vaughn, nodding his head towards Sydney, silently asking him what she was doing. Vaughn simply shrugged and roll his eyes.

A young couple cut infront of them and ordered their ice cream, and Sydney was still staring intently at the menu by the time they left. "Er…Syd?"

Realising that she had been taking her time, she quickly picked one of the flavours. "Sorry, I'll have strawberry." She smiled at the vendor and noticed Vaughn shaking his head at her. "What?"

"All of that for strawberry? You could have at least picked something a little more challenging, like raspberry ripple."

"Yeah because raspberry ripple is such a challenge." She replied sarcastically, and playfully punched his arm.

"Make that a strawberry cone and a raspberry ripple." He glanced at her and smiled as he made his order.

They finally got their ice creams and continued walking. Sydney spotted a huge oak tree and suggested that they should sit down for a little while. They took a seat under the tree; Vaughn leaning against the trunk while Sydney sat beside him.

"How's the raspberry ice cream?" Sydney asked.

"It's great. So much better than strawberry…" He took another bite of the ice cream and Sydney quickly knocked his arm, causing the ice cream to go onto his nose. She immediately burst out laughing, as he sat there with it on his nose.

"I can't believe you just did that." He found himself laughing along, despite the cold sensation on his face.

"I'm sorry." She managed to calm her laughter down as she handed him a napkin. "But let this be a lesson to you, never make fun of strawberry ice cream. Or me for that matter." She smiled triumphantly and ate some more ice cream.

"I'd never make fun of you…" He held her gaze for a couple of seconds before looking away. Sydney stared down at the grass as silence came over them.

After finishing their ice creams, they stood up and decided to keep walking. They walked around the lake that was in the centre of the park and spent a couple of minutes watching the ducks in the water. As they started walking again, Sydney slipped her hand in Michael's, and was relieved when he gave her hand a comforting squeeze and then linked their fingers together. They continued to walk hand in hand until they heard someone behind them shouting Michael.

They stopped walking and turned to see a woman who appeared to be in her sixties walking towards them. She smiled at them both as she approached.

"Dr Vaughn, what a nice surprise."

"Mrs Davies. It's good to see you again." Mrs Davies had been one of Michael's patients ever since he moved to LA.

She turned her attention to Sydney. "Hello dear." She looked down at their joined hands and then back up at Michael. "You didn't tell me you had a girlfriend."

Michael looked at Sydney and then tried to explain. "Oh no, she's not my gir…" He stopped himself, realising that it was none of her business. Sydney had to stifle her laugh; the poor woman looked so confused. "So how have you been Mrs Davies?" He quickly changed the subject.

"I've been great. I'm here with the grandkids." She motioned over to two young toddlers who were a couple of feet behind her, as her husband tried to control them. Seeing that he needed her help, she quickly excused herself, walking back to her family and leaving Sydney and Vaughn to continue with their walk.

"I'm sorry about back there..." He wasn't entirely sure what he was apologising for. Sydney wasn't his girlfriend; after all they had only been on two dates. But he knew that it had been awkward situation for both of them.

"Don't be." She squeezed his hand and smiled. "So she thought I was your girlfriend!" She shrugged. "I should take that as a compliment." She joked, although she was happy that she was mistaken as his girlfriend.

"No I'd be the lucky one…"

"Hey, but I thought I was the lucky one…I'm the one that got the challenging ice cream." She started laughed and Michael joined in. He noticed how she had one of the infectious laughs, and every time that she laughed he couldn't help but laugh along to.

He stopped laughing and looked at her, his eyes roaming all over her face. She blushed but before she could say anything his lips were on hers. He cupped her face with his hands while she held on to his waist as the kiss deepened.

They pulled apart and Sydney smiled. "I'm definitely the lucky one…" She stroked his face before reaching up to kiss him again.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

"Hi, could you tell me where I could find Michael Vaughn?" Sydney asked the receptionist when she arrived at the dental surgery. Michael didn't know that she was coming, she had just randomly decided to go and visit him in her lunch hour. She wasn't entirely sure what she was going to say to him when she saw him; she just had the urge to see him.

The receptionist asked for her name before buzzing through to Michael's office to see if he was busy. While Sydney waited she looked around the waiting room, wondering if she had done the right thing stopping by. But before she had a chance to change her mind, the receptionist started talking to her again.

"He's in his office. He told me to tell you to go straight through."

Sydney thanked her and then walked towards the office door. Taking a deep breath, she knocked once on the door and waited until she heard him say come in. She walked into the room with a smile on her face, and noticed Weiss sitting on the couch at the side of the room with a hamburger in one hand and a newspaper in the other.

"Hey." She closed the door behind her and stepped further into the room.

"Hi Sydney. What a pleasant surprise." Michael closed over the file he had been reading and stood up.

"I was just in the neighbourhood so I thought I'd stop by…" She shrugged at him, and laughed nervously. _I can't believe I just used the most obvious lie on him. He is so going to know that I've made that up…_

"I'm glad you did." He smiled back at her. Weiss sat quietly on the sofa watching the two of them.

"I just wanted to see if you were free Saturday night?"

"Yeah I am. What did you have in mind?"

Sydney had absolutely no idea. On the drive over she had been thinking of ways to ask him out, but she had never actually got around to deciding what they could do.

"I don't know. Maybe we could…"

Weiss cleared his throat and stood up, all the attention now on him. "I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but you have Mr Clark's retirement party Saturday. You know he will kill you and probably fire you if you don't go…"

Vaughn sighed and looked down at the floor. "I totally forgot. I'm sorry Syd."

She tried to cover up her disappointment with a smile, but Vaughn could tell that she was just as disappointed as he was. "Hey don't worry about. Some other time maybe."

Weiss folded up his newspaper and walked towards the door. Before he left the room he stopped and turned to face them. "You could always go as his date!" He mused and then left them alone to think about what he had said.

Vaughn looked at the closed door, amazed that Weiss had just practically asked Sydney out on a date for him. The room fell silent, both of them waiting for the other to speak. Finally Vaughn broke the silence.

"So you want to go… with me?" He threw her a lopsided grin, his hands in his pockets.

"Yeah I would, if you don't mind that is…"

Vaughn smiled and walked towards her. He lightly ran his hands up and down her hands causing her to smile. "I'd love for you to be there. I just don't want you to be bored." She looked at him strangely, urging him to continue. "Mr Clark is the President of the Dental Association. He controls most of the dental practices in Los Angeles and he's retiring this week and his party is on Saturday. He's quite an old fashioned kinda guy, so the party is gonna be formal; tuxes and that kinda thing. But there'll be dancing and champagne, lots and lots of champagne." She laughed and wrapped her arms around his waist.

"It doesn't sound that boring. At least I'll get to see you on the dance floor."

Vaughn shook his head, his hands moving to rest on her back. "No, I don't do dancing." He looked at her, his head still moving from side to side.

Sydney pouted and pretended to look hurt. "So if I ask you to dance with me… you'll say no?" She teased, hugging him closer to her.

Vaughn laughed and rolled his eyes. "Well I supposed if you asked, I'd say yes. Only because you're special. But if Weiss asks me to dance, I'll be blaming you." He teased back.

"And why would Weiss be asking you to dance?"

"Let's just say when he's been drinking, he likes to dance." Vaughn grimaced as he remembered all the times that Weiss had asked him to dance. Each time had involved Weiss taking over the entire dance floor with his dance moves, while Vaughn watched from the side of the room.

"I have a solution to that problem…" She smiled at him, and he noticed how her eyes were sparkling.

"And that would be?"

She slowly brought her face closer to his, but stopped just before their lips met. "You can just dance with me all night." Vaughn smiled at her and closed the gap between them, placing his lips lightly on hers.

Sydney was just putting in her ear rings when her doorbell rung. She quickly checked her appearance in the mirror and went to answer the door. Michael was standing on her doorstep wearing a black tux and a single red rose in his hand.

His breath caught in his throat as he laid eyes on her. She was wearing a red, strapless dress that hugged her figure, and her hair was curled slightly and left to fall onto her shoulders. He noticed how she didn't wear much make-up, not that he thought she needed it, her face was just left bare and he knew that she was the most beautiful woman that he had ever seen.

"Wow, Sydney you look amazing." She smiled at him and twirled around in the doorway.

"You're looking pretty hot yourself." She laughed lightly as she grabbed her purse and then they left her apartment.

As they walked down her driveway, Sydney noticed the black limousine that was watching on the side of the road. Vaughn noticed her looking at it and began to explain.

"I thought we'd go there in style." He joked. "I hope you don't mind, we're going with Eric and his date."

"No that's fine." She flashed him a reassuring smile as they climbed into the limo.

"Hey Sydney." Weiss greeted her as she took a seat. "This is Abby." He motioned to the brunette woman who was sitting next to him at the side of the car.

"Hi." Sydney smiled at them both as she took a seat. Michael closed the door behind him and took a seat next to her.

Twenty minutes later they arrived at the ballroom, which had been hired out for the party. Once they were out of the limo, Sydney slipped her arm through Michael's as they walked into the building, with Weiss and Abby closely following behind.

They walked into the room and Sydney felt as if all eyes were on them. At first she dismissed this as paranoia but the more she looked around the room, the more she felt like they were being watched.

"Is it just me, or is everyone looking at us?" She whispered to Michael.

"They're only doing it because you're the most beautiful woman in the world." He lightly kissed the side of her head. Sydney blushed at his comment and a smile crept onto her face. They walked further into the room, and Sydney was thankful to find that the attention was no longer on them; people were now watching the other people entering the room.

"They must be waiting for Mr Clark to arrive." Weiss noted as he walked past them, over to the bar with Abby on his arm.

"Can I get you a drink?" Vaughn asked.

"Yeah, I'll have a glass of champagne." He placed a quick kiss on her lips before walking off into the same direction that Weiss had done seconds before.

Sydney started to wonder around the room, admiring the dresses and jewellery that the women were wearing. They all looked like friendly people, and some people even smiled and said hello as she walked past. She was stood at the side of the room looking around her, when she felt an arm wrap around a waist and a glass of champagne appeared infront of her.

"Thank you." She took the glass off him, and slowly sipped it.

"So you bored yet?" He joked, drinking some champagne.

Sydney laughed and turned to face him. "How could I possibly be bored….you're here!" She winked at him causing him to laugh.

"I'll take that as a compliment."

She nodded. "You should. It may be the only one you get!" She teased and downed the rest of her drink. "Let's dance."

Vaughn's mouth fell open as he looked at the dance floor. "But we only just got here!" He protested, hoping that he could put off dancing for a little longer.

"But there are already people dancing…" She told him. She was right; the dance floor was already full of couples dancing to the slow music that the band was playing. "And besides," she took a step closer to him and whispered in his ear. "I just caught Weiss looking in this direction…I'm pretty sure he's going to ask you to dance." She lied, taking the champagne glass out of his hand, and replacing it with her own hand. She put the glass down on the nearest table and dragged him towards the dance floor.

Sydney placed her hands around his neck, his hands resting on her hips. She smiled at him as they slowly moved in time with the music.

Vaughn glanced over at his friend and saw that he was in deep conversation with Abby. "You made that up about Weiss didn't you." He looked back at Sydney and noticed her cheeks reddening slightly.

"Kinda." She giggled and rested her head on his shoulder.

They continued dancing like this for a couple of songs before Mr Clark arrived in the room. Everyone stopped dancing and began to clap and cheer. He was quite a tall man, with brown hair that was beginning to go grey in some areas. He looked like a friendly enough man, but from what Michael and Eric had said about him on the way over, Sydney knew otherwise.

Mr Clark walked around the room and thanked various people for coming. Vaughn took this opportunity to lead Sydney away from the dance floor and they went to sit with Weiss and Abby.

The four of them started talking, and Weiss was in the middle of a story when Mr Clark walked up to them.

"Dr Weiss and Vaughn. Thank you both for coming!" He smiled at them as he shuck both of their hands.

"Thanks for inviting us. It's a great party." Weiss replied.

He nodded and then focused his attention on the two women at the table. "And these lovely ladies would be?"

Weiss smiled at him as he introduced Abby. "This is my date for the evening, Abby McAdams."

"And this would be…"

"Sydney Bristow." Sydney interrupted him, holding out her hand for Mr Clark to shake. "Michael's girlfriend." She glanced at Michael and smiled, silently hoping that she had just said the right thing. She searched his face for some kind of reaction, and was relieved when he smiled and put his arm around her shoulder.

"How nice." Mr Clark replied and excused himself before walking up to another group of guests.

Weiss and Abby went to dance, leaving Sydney and Vaughn alone at the table. Sydney took another glass of champagne and began to play with the bottom of the glass. "I'm sorry about what I said there, it just kinda slipped out." She continued to look down at the table.

"Hey I'm not complaining. I'd love to have you as my girlfriend." He gently moved her head so that she was facing him. He gave her a smile before leaning forward and kissing her.

After the party ended, the four of them climbed back into the limo. The car pulled to a stop outside Sydney's house. Sydney leaned across the seat to whisper to Vaughn.

"You want to come inside?" She leaned back so that she could see his face. They stared at each other for a couple of seconds and then Vaughn nodded his head.

"Yeah ok." Sydney smiled and grabbed his hand. "Weiss, you guys take the car." He smiled at his friend and followed Sydney out of the car.

She opened the door to find that the apartment was dark and quiet. _Francie and Will must have already gone to bed…_

She walked into the living room and switched on the lamp. "Can I get you a glass of wine?"

"Yeah sure." She smiled and walked into the kitchen, returning minutes later with two glasses of wine. She handed one to him as she sat beside him on the couch.

"I had a great time tonight Michael. It wasn't as boring as you made out!"

Vaughn laughed and rolled his eyes. "Yeah only because you kept dragging me onto the dance floor." She playfully nudged him in the side and took a sip of her drink. "But I had a really great time too."

She smiled and placed her glass down on the coffee table, taking his off him and doing the same. She turned to face him, her hand slowly moving down his cheek. He leaned forward and kissed her as Sydney removed his tux jacket. The kiss deepened as they fell back onto the couch, and Sydney started to undo his shirt buttons when the living room light was switched on. They both jumped up to see Francie standing in the doorway, her face red with embarrassment.

"Oh God, I'm so sorry." She brought her hand up to her mouth, ashamed that she had just walked in on them. "I came to get a glass of water and the lamp was on…

"It's ok Fran." Sydney reassured her as they got up from the couch. Francie walked into the kitchen feeling bad for what had happened.

"I should get going." Michael picked his jacket and put it back on. Sydney sighed and nodded.

"Ok. I'll call you tomorrow." She kissed him goodnight and showed him out. Once he had left Francie returned from the kitchen, a sad expression on her face.

"Syd I'm really sorry. I feel so bad."

Sydney laughed and gave her friend a hug. "Don't feel bad. It's ok, honestly." She kissed her on the cheek. "I'm going to bed, goodnight!"

She walked towards her bedroom and closed the door. Falling back on the bed, she sighed and closed her eyes. She thought about everything that had happened that night and how the night hadn't exactly ended the way she had planned. She finally found the energy to get changed for bed and she was soon fast asleep.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11 

Sydney got dressed to go for a run and walked out of her bedroom to be greeted with the smell of freshly cooked pancakes. She entered the kitchen to find the table filled with various types of pancakes. Francie turned around and smiled, a pan in her hands.

"Good morning. I made you breakfast." She nodded at the table and looked back at her friend.

"Fran, you didn't have to do all this."

"I did. I wanted to make it up to you for what happened last night." She blushed as her eyes fell to the floor.

Sydney sighed as she took a bit of one of the pancakes. "I told you, it's ok."

"Listen," Francie took a seat at the table and motioned for Sydney to do the same. "Will and I are going out tonight, so you'll have the whole apartment to yourself." She looked at her suggestively and then smiled.

"Francie!" Sydney shouted and shook her head.

She smiled innocently at her and began to eat some of the pancakes. "Just invite him over!" She shrugged, not making eye contact with her friend.

Sydney stood up and walked over to the fridge to get some orange juice. "I am not inviting him over here just so that I can have sex with him!"

"Why not?"

Sydney laughed and rolled her eyes. "You cannot be serious?"

"Hell yeah." She stood up and placed her empty dish in the sink and then turned to face Sydney. "So are you trying to tell me that if I hadn't been a jackass last night and interrupted you guys, nothing would have happened?" She folded her arms across her chest and arched her left eyebrow.

Sydney thought about her answer. She considering lying to her but Francie would know straight away that she wasn't telling the truth.

"Ok, fine! You're right, as always." She rolled her eyes. Francie smiled triumphantly and hugged her.

"So then there should be no problem with you calling him to come over later! Order some Chinese food, watch a movie and then continue where you left off." Francie laughed as Sydney punched her arm and walked towards the door.

"I'm going for a run." She ignored Francie's last comment as she put on her running shoes.

"Call him!" Francie yelled as Sydney walked out, shutting the door behind her.

Sydney got home from her run and showered. After she had changed, she found a note on the fridge from Francie, telling her that she had gone to the store and would be home soon. She made herself a sandwich and sat down on the couch, the TV playing in the background.

Taking a bite of her lunch, her eyes fell onto the phone. She considered calling him but didn't want to seem too desperate especially since she only saw him the day before. She looked back at the TV but there was this little voice in the back of her mind reminding herself that she told him she would call.

She put her plate on the coffee table and reached for the phone before she had time to change her mind.

After four rings he answered the phone, sounding slightly out of breath. She smiled to herself and sat back on the couch.

"Hello?"

"Hey Michael. It's Sydney."

"Oh hey." His voice automatically changed and he sounded much happier than he did when he first answered.

"How are you?"

"I'm great. You?"

"Yeah I'm ok."

"Listen, I had an amazing time last night." Sydney blushed as he spoke, but inside she was thinking the same thing that he was.

"Me too. And I actually managed to get you to dance with me, so it was quite a successful evening." She joked, referring to the conversation they had had the day before about Vaughn not liking to dance.

He laughed. "Well all you had to do was ask."

"Are you free tonight?" She blurted out, biting her bottom lip nervously as she waited for his answer.

Vaughn smiled. He hadn't been expecting to see her so soon, but now that he had the opportunity to see her again he was definitely not going to give it up.

"Yeah I am. What did you have in mind?"

"Well Francie and Will are going out for the night, so I thought I'd avoid the marking that I have to do for tomorrow and watch a chick flick, eat some pizza and just relax, if you wanna join me…"

"Yeah that sounds great…but a chick flick?" He teased, and even though he couldn't see her, he could tell that she was smiling.

She was silent for a couple of seconds while she thought of a response. "Ok, so depending on how nice your being, I may be able to change the chick flick to a less girly film. But I wouldn't count on it." She teased back, loving the carefree conversations that they were having.

"Ok, now you have yourself a deal."

They talked for a couple more minutes before hanging up. Sydney smiled and finished her sandwich while she thought about her upcoming date with Michael. A little while after she finished, Francie walked into the apartment, carrying two brown bags full of groceries.

"Hey sweetie. You will believe how packed the store was. I only went in there for a few things aswell." She sighed as she placed the bags on the kitchen table. Sydney joined her in the kitchen and laughed.

"Yeah it looks like you only bought a few things too." Sydney replied sarcastically, her eyes roaming over all the food.

Francie rolled her eyes as she started to unpack the shopping. "Well I got bored standing in the queue, so I started to pick things up from the nearby shelves. Before I knew it, the trolley was looking kinda full." She blushed.

Sydney hugged her and began to help. "So I gave Michael a call…"

Francie stopped and turned to face her. "And?"

She paused, her smile growing larger with every second that she was silent. "He's coming over." Francie squealed and began to jump around the kitchen.

"Oh my God, Sydney this is great."

"Yeah, but I can't help feeling like I've just called him over here to get him into bed…"

"No you haven't. You've invited him to come and watch a movie, have a little fun…and then get him into bed." Francie joked, and received a slap on her arm in return.

"Fran!" Sydney sighed, walking out of the kitchen and towards her bedroom.

"I was kidding!" Francie called after her. "Well kinda!" She admitted to herself and started laughing as she continued to put away the shopping.


	12. Chapter 12

_hey! _

_sorry it's taken me so long to post this, but i've been busy revising for exams:( anyways enjoy :) _

**Chapter 12**

"How's it going in here?" Francie stood in the doorway, looking into Sydney's bedroom. Sydney glanced over at her and sighed.

"I'm a mess!" She walked over to her. "Francie look at me!" Francie did just that and smiled.

"Hun, there's nothing wrong with you." She gently assured her. "You're just a little nervous, that's all. Hell, I'd be nervous if Michael was coming over here for the night!"

"Ok, not helping here Fran." Sydney warned her. She wasn't in the mood for her jokes, especially since she was no where near ready for her 'date' with Michael.

Francie apologized and took a seat on the bed. "Ok, so what's the problem here?" Dropping down onto the bed next to her, Sydney covered her face with her hands.

"I don't know." She admitted truthfully. She couldn't quite out what was wrong, but she knew in the back of her mind that something was up.

Francie pulled her up, so she was now sitting. "Look, firstly take a deep breath." Sydney looked at her cautiously, but did as she said. "Now listen to me, this is just a casual thing. You've invited him over to watch a movie, eat some food, just to hang out. Just relax and everything will be fine. Ok?" Sydney nodded, as the doorbell rang.

"That'll be Will. You sure I'm ok to leave you now?" Sydney nodded again and hugged her friend.

Francie walked out of the room, but came back a few seconds later. "Call me later, I want details."

"Francie! I'm not gonna call you while he's here. And besides there may be no details!"

"Sure. Love you." She laughed to herself as she left with her boyfriend.

Sydney sat alone in her room, wondering what she should do next. Looking around the room, she laughed at the mess she had made trying to pick out an outfit.

"Ok, casual. I can do casual." She reassured herself, and looked down at her clothes, deciding to change her skirt for a pair of jeans.

"So tonight's the _big_ date, hey?" Weiss teased Vaughn, who was looking for his car keys.

"Give it a rest Weiss." He finally found his keys on the kitchen table. Walking back into the living room, he stared at Weiss. "What are you doing here anyways? You knew I was going out tonight…did you come over just to give me hassle?"

Weiss blushed and turned away from the TV. "You're TV is better!"

Vaughn frowned at him. "You have the same TV."

"But you have better channels!" Weiss argued back.

Vaughn threw his arms in the air and sighed. "You have the same channels!" In all the time that he had known Weiss, he had still never figured out why Weiss did the things that he did.

"Whatever dude. You're gonna be late." Weiss nodded towards the clock and then focussed his attention back onto the TV."

Vaughn parked his car infront of her house. Taking a deep breath to steady his nerves, he walked up to the door, a small box in his hands. He knocked confidently on the front door, although he was anything but confident on the inside. A couple of seconds later, Sydney came to the door looking as beautiful as ever.

"Hey." She greeted him with a smile.

"Hi."

She stepped aside and he walked into her house, kissing her lightly on the cheek as he walked by. Smiling to herself, she closed the door and turned to face him, noticing the object in his hands.

He followed her stare and remembered that he had something to give to her. "These are for you." He handed over the box and Sydney couldn't help the small laugh that escaped from her lips.

"You're a traitor to your profession, you know that?" She teased, admiring the box of Belgian chocolates.

Vaughn blushed slightly, a half smile on his lips. "You're worth it." He paused. "Just don't be telling your dentist. I don't want to be known as the dentist who gives out sugary treats." Sydney rolled her eyes and took his jacket before walking into the kitchen. He followed her and leaned back against the kitchen counter, admiring her as she put the chocolates into the fridge.

"You trying to tell me that I'm not the only one you give chocolates too?" She feigned hurt.

He laughed and looked down at the floor, trying to think of a witty come back. Failing to think of something witty, he opted for something sweet instead. "You're the only one." He smiled at her as she walked back towards the fridge.

"You want a beer?" He nodded and she took two bottles out, handing one of them to him. "So what do you feel like eating?"

Vaughn shrugged. "Whatever you want."

Sydney thought for a minute, and then walked over to one of the kitchen drawers, returning a couple of seconds later to the kitchen table, her hands full of pieces of paper. Vaughn observed her curiously, wondering what she was up to.

Dumping the papers on the table, she motioned for him to come and stand next to her. Obliging, he walked over and looked at the array of colours scattered across the wooden surface.

"I'm scared to ask, but what are these?"

"Take-out menus."

"Take-out menus?" She nodded. "But there's just so many of them…"

Sydney laughed. "Yeah, we think we may have one for every take-out joint in the city." She smiled proudly. It had taken her and Francie a long time to do, but they had built upon their collection in time.

Vaughn picked up random menus and began to browse through them. "Wait," He paused, looking at her. "I thought Francie was a…"

"Oh she is." She confirmed. She knew how crazy all of this was, but to her and Francie it made perfect sense. Will didn't seem to understand it either, although he did take advantage of all the menus whenever he was over at their apartment. "But you know, sometimes she's a little tired after work to cook something, or when she isn't in, me and Will order take-out. It's good to have a mixed selection."

Vaughn was truly amazed by her. "How do you even chose one? It must take hours to read through them all…"

"Michael, I have so much to teach you." She joked, shuffling the menus up. "It's simple, we do Pick It."

"I'm sorry, Pick It?"

Sydney couldn't help but laugh at him. He looked so cute when he was this confused. "It's ok, you're new to the game, but in future I won't be able to guide you through this. You're taught once, and then expected to know how to do it forever!"

"Yes Yoda!" He teased, loving the smile that appeared on her face.

She playfully slapped his arm before continuing. "Pick it, is just how it sounds…you close your eyes and pick a menu!"

He shook his head and laughed along with her. "Well I could have guessed that much! Why didn't you just say that in the first place…why make up the name?"

"Because," She started matter-of-factly, with a hint of laughter in her voice. "Without the name, we're just two people randomly picking menus, the name makes it more fun." She reassured him. "Close your eyes." He did as she requested and reached out, picking up a blue menu.

"Excellent choice Mr Vaughn."

They got their order together and Sydney called it through. After hanging up the phone, she walked into the living room and sat beside him on the couch.

"It'll be here in twenty minutes." She informed him with a smile. "You wanna wait until the pizza's here before we watch the movie?"

"Well that would depend. If it's a chick flick, I'd have to say that we hold off as long as possible until we watch it." He joked. "But any other film will be good after the pizza." She playfully rolled her eyes and took a sip of her drink.

They continued to talk and joke while they waited for the pizza to arrive. Finally Vaughn asked the question that he had been wondering for a while.

"Where's Francie tonight?"

Sydney couldn't hide her smile. "Will has taken her out for the night."

Vaughn returned her smile. "So if I go to kiss you right now, she won't walk in again?" He joked, as he slowly moved closer to her.

"You'll just have to take your chances." She replied, her voice barely above a whisper as his lips met hers.

The kiss quickly deepened and they were soon back to where they were the night before. After a couple of minutes the doorbell rang and Sydney reluctantly pulled away.

"Pizza's here!" She got up of the couch and grabbed her purse, adjusting her top and hair as she went to answer the door. Vaughn watched her go, feeling extremely lucky that he had her in his life.

After paying the pizza guy, Sydney walked back into the living room and retook her seat on the couch, placing the pizza on the table infront of them.

"How about that movie?" Michael asked and she nodded. He picked up the selection of DVDS that she had layed out and laughed as he looked through them.

"You really went all out didn't you. I know I said no chick flicks, but The Fast and The Furious…really?" He held the film up infront of her and she laughed along.

"Hey don't mock it. Will told me it was a classic." She defended, remembering the conversation they had had about what film would be a suitable guys film.

"A classic?"

Sydney smiled smugly. "Well if you'd rather watch a real classic, I have Breakfast At Tiffany's around here somewhere." She suggested, noting the panicked look that came across his face.

"So The Fast and The Furious it is then." He walked towards the DVD player and put in the disc, acting like he hadn't heard her last comment.

She laughed and settled back on the couch, the pizza box open on her lap. As the movie started, he came and sat beside her, taking a slice of pizza and kissing her gently on the cheek.

After they had finished the pizza, Sydney leaned forward to put the now empty box on the floor, and as she went to sit back on the couch, Vaughn opened out his arm to her. She smiled as she moved towards him, her head resting lightly on his chest, while his arm was wrapped securely around her. He gently ran his fingers through her hair as they watched the movie, but Sydney wasn't even paying any attention to the screen. All she could concentrate on was the safe, comfortable feeling of being in his arms.

"Well that wasn't that bad." Vaughn commented as the credits began to roll. Sydney sighed contentedly and looked up at him.

"No, but it wasn't exactly Breakfast At Tiffany's."

He laughed and wrapped his arms tighter around her, planting a kiss on the top of her head. "Ok, I promise you next time we can watch that, ok?" She nodded against his chest and smiled.

"I'll definitely hold you to that."

Sydney switched off the TV and turned in his arms to face him. She smiled, bringing her hand up to stroke his cheek. Cupping his face with her hands, she brought his face closer to hers and kissed him. Vaughn deepened the kiss, his arms holding her closer to him as she pulled his sweater over his head.

"You…wanna…go…" She asked between kisses, not even having to finish the sentence for him to agree. He nodded and kissed her again as they stood up and walked towards her bedroom.

Sydney woke up to find Michael asleep next to her, his arm draped across her stomach. She smiled, remembering all the details from the night before. Everything had gone perfectly, just the way that both of them had hoped.

She lay watching him sleep, the steady rise and fall of his chest telling her that he was in a deep sleep. She noticed the small smile on his lips, and wondering what she was dreaming about, unaware that she was the one person taking over his dreams.

Rolling over, she picked up her clock and sighed. She knew that she had to be getting up for work soon but she didn't want to leave the bed.

"Hey…" He spoke sleepily, causing her to jump as she thought he was fast asleep.

"Good morning." She placed a chaste kiss on his lips and smiled.

He pulled her into his arms and wrapped the duvet firmly around them both. After planting a series of kisses down her neck, he lay back down and sighed contentedly.

"I have to get up soon." Sydney informed him.

"We could both just call in sick…"

She laughed lightly. "What?"

It had started off as just a suggestion, but now he was serious. "Yeah, you could call the school and tell them about that terrible headache you have, and I could call my surgery and tell them about the mystery cold that had infected me."

She turned over to face him. "And what would I do instead of going to work?"

"Spend the day with me."

There was something about the way that he said it that made her unable to refuse. "Ok."

"Great." He kissed her. "Mind if I use the bathroom?"

She burst out laughing, covering her face with the pillow. "Michael, you do not have to ask to use the bathroom." She pulled tongues at him as he got out of the bed and put on his boxers.

Laughing along, he walked out of the room and left her alone in the bed, thinking of the excuse that she was going to give to work.

"Francie, do you really think this is a good idea?" Will asked, as they crept up to the front door.

"Yes. Sydney will be up, she's got to be in work soon. And besides, we're just gonna go in and get changed for work and leave. No interrupting them." She quietly opened the front door and found the apartment to be empty. "They must still be asleep. Come on." She whispered, walking further into her home.

Will walked straight into Francie's room to get a change of clothes, but Francie stopped in the hallway, noticing that Sydney's door was open and only Sydney was in the room.

He must have left already… 

She walked into the room and jumped on Sydney's bed, immediately waking Sydney from the pleasant dream that she had been having.

"Francie?" Sydney grumbled, her eyes still shut.

"Yes, now wake up. I want details missy." She shook her lightly, and Sydney opened her eyes and looked at her.

"What time is it?"

"Nevermind the time. Details!"

"Francie!" Sydney moaned, wanting nothing more than to go back to sleep.

"So, how was he?"

"He…" She paused for dramatic effect. "Is standing right behind you." She smiled sweetly at Francie.

Francie froze. She stared at Sydney, waiting to see some change in her facial expression to tell Francie that she was only joking. But nothing changed. Slowly, Francie turned her head and made eye contact with a boxer wearing Michael Vaughn.

She felt her face redden as she stood up. "Dr Vaughn." She greeted him, running out of Sydney's room and into her own. She immediately ran into Will's arms and buried her head in his chest.

"Will, promise me something."

"Sure."

"Never let me talk to people again. Ever."


End file.
